Heart Update {Maddox}

On Monday we headed down to Indy to Riley Children's Hospital with Maddox. 

I haven't been to Riley since I was there as a sick kiddo when I was around maybe 6 or 7? We were in a totally different area and if we had more time, I would have loved to look around at where I was back then.  ANYways, I knew that we would be in great care there.

We got to Indy in time to stop for lunch at Which Wich quickly before heading to the hospital.  The hospital is so big and we had a little bit of a hard time finding where to go, but once we got checked in, things moved pretty quickly.  

First Maddox had an EKG.  He screamed the entire 2 minutes.  I warned the girl ahead of time that he would, but she assured me he wasn't the worse she had seen ;) 

Next, we moved over to a different room for the echo cardiogram.  This was really similar to what we have been doing here in South Bend for Maddox.  Their machines were a little more up to date, if I'm being honest :) haha, but the whole idea was very similar.  It actually reminded me of the echo we had when Maddox was in utero...because we could see all the blood flow coded by color, etc.  

Maddox hated the echo too and cried off and on the whole time.  They had Paw Patrol on, we gave him a sucker, and he laid on my lap...but he was still really tense and would cry then settle down, and then cry again.  It's hard to pin down a 17 month old for a 30 min. test.  Both of the ladies who did the EKG and the echo were SUPER nice and incredibly patient with him.  I know it's their job and I'm sure he's not their hardest patient, but it made me feel good knowing they weren't annoyed.  They never seemed "over" their job, and did such a good job waiting as needed. 

After the tests, we had a little break before the nurse called us back to get his oxygen levels, ask us a few questions, and then get us settled in the room while we waited for the doctor.

On the way down to appointment, I asked Nate if he was nervous.  He said no and asked if I was.  I told him not really either. 

But there's something to be said after all the testing is done and you're waiting to hear what the doctor thinks... just in those moments of waiting, it's easy to start to feel a little nervous :) 

Dr. Parent gave us about as best of news as we could get.  Let me just say that he was really nice, explained things and gave us lots of encouragement, which is just what we needed.  He also has 2 boys (4 1/2 and 1 1/2), so he knows what our life looks like right now! haha.

I'm not a doctor and I'm sometimes bad at relaying information, but I'll do my best.  Here's a synopsis of what Dr. Parent told us...

The hole in Maddox's heart is about the same.  It looks like the hole shouldn't effect him and Dr. Parent doesn't think surgery is needed. (PRAISE!!!)  With that said, there is still a very rare chance that it could cause issues with a valve of the heart, whether it closes all the way or not.  So, they will continue to keep an eye on him for years, starting out seeing him every 18 months.  Right now, we have been seeing the cardiologist about every 6 months, so knowing we can go every 18 months seems so LONG but that's exactly what we want to hear!  Dr. Parent made it very clear that Maddox should live a completely normal life, no activity limits, encouraged us to have him play any sport he wants, and said he expects him to have a normal life expectancy. We let him know that we no longer see any side effects of this, and he said that after looking at the heart, he wouldn't expect to see any either :) 

I wish I could tell you the relief in my heart.  While I'm not a super stressful person and I tend to look at the positive side, whenever we would go the cardiologist, I would picture Maddox having open heart surgery and what all that would look like.  It's terrifying but thankfully it looks like that is something we shouldn't have to worry about anymore.  

I'm confident in the doctors that have cared for Maddox, confident in my strong boy, and confident in God...who I know had this under control from day 1. 

Let me just say that it is HARD to be at Riley.  Seeing so many sick kids fighting for their lives certainly puts things in perspective quickly. 

Thank you so much for everyone who called, texted, messaged, etc to see how Maddox is doing.  It means the world to know how much he is loved.  It's a breath of fresh air that I won't have to do another one of these updates for about 18 months!

xox,

Naomi